The experiences of Australian prisoners of war (POWs) or Kriegsgefangeners held captive in Germany has been largely forgotten or ignored- overshadowed by the horrid stories of Australians imprisoned by the Japanese during World War II. Yet, as David Coombes makes known, the stories are interesting and significant - not only providing an account of what those young Australian soldiers experienced, and the spirit they showed in responding to captivity - but also for the insight it provides into Germany in the last eighteen months of the war.Drawing on previous inaccessible records - including interviews conducted by the late David Chalk as well as private papers and unpublished manuscripts (all part of the Chalk Collection) - Coombes focuses on one Australian brigade, the 4th Infantry, from its formation in 1914, through Gallipoli to its baptism of fire on the Western Front, culminating in the first battle of Bullecourt - which, in turn, leads to the prisoner of war experience. An unknown future was certainly what awaited those mostly young soldiers as POWs - whether it be exposed to their own artillery fire while working for the enemy 'behind the line'; in a hospital ward somewhere in France or Germany; or behind wire, in a camp, in Germany.What remained constant, and gave them reason to stay alive, often in the most horrendous circumstances, was their desire to be free - to get back to their family and loved ones in Australia.

Granqist's account of his wartime experiences adds another important chapter to the story of Australian World War II POWs while showcasing the spirit, humour, persistence, and ingenuity of a well trained soldier.

The first attacks on Australia by the Japanese were made by four submarines of the Sixth Submarine Squadron of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Together, these 80-man boats laid mines, and then waited in their killing zones for targets to torpedo. On 20 January 1942, it all went horribly wrong. Sunk with all hands, the submarine I-124 remains outside Darwin today, testimony to bravery but also to folly. Avonmore Books’ new edition of a 1990s work features new and improved graphics; a host of photographs, and the complete story of the submarine action, and events through the decades beyond – for the sunken vessel did not lie easy. Code seekers; treasure hunters; and potential salvors eventually led to the formation of the Historic Shipwrecks Act.

To the Bitter End is a penetrating and detailed account of the climactic battles of the German forces in Slovakia, the Carpathians, parts of Poland, Silesia and Saxony, from autumn 1944 until the end of the war. These were desperate times for the German forces as they fought frantically against overwhelming odds to prevent Soviet forces bent on revenge penetrating into the heart of the Reich. The author provides excellent detail on the movements and actions of numerous German units, and the text covers all major actions including the battle for the Vistula bridgeheads, the epic siege of Breslau where the troops held out until the day before the official surrender of all German forces, and the final desperate actions around Bautzen which featured the last successful German counteroffensive of the war and also their last tank offensive before Soviet superiority of men and equipment proved to be overwhelming. Appendices include comprehensive orders-of-battle. A 16-page photo section and a large number of detailed battle maps are also included to provide the reader with a sense of the futility and desperation of the position of the German soldiers, ordered to fight to the last man.

The images of soldiers and marines coming ashore on hostile beaches are embedded in our collective memory of World War II. But what of the sailors who manned the landing craft, going back and forth under fire with nowhere to take cover?In this book, Ken Wiley, a coast guardsman on an attack-transport ship in the Pacific, relates the extraordinary story of how the United States projected its power across 6,000 miles of ocean, despite fierce Japanese resistance. The author describes each invasion, detailing a swirl of moving parts, from frogmen to fire support, transport mother ships to attack-transports, the smaller Higgins boats (LCVPs) and, during the last terrifying stage, the courageous men who stormed the beaches.The author participated in the campaigns for the Marshall Islands, the Marianas, the Philippines and Okinawa, and, with a precise eye for detail, he relates numerous aspects of landing-craft operations, such as ferrying wounded, that are often discounted. He conveys the terror and horror of war, without neglecting the humour and cameraderie of wartime life.D-Days in the Pacific is an exciting book, full of harrowing combat action, which also provides a valuable service in explaining exactly how World War II’s massive amphibious operations were undertaken.

The primary objective of this source edition is to provide readers with original documents, allowing them to form their own impression of the development, manufacture and operation of the Heinkel He 162. By linking this accumulated data with the historical situation of those times, we hope to have facilitated a more objective assessment of the "Volksjäger" project.For the purposes of this book, around 200 file documents were selected from a multitude of material on the Heinkel He 162 and reproduced in their original state. Complementing them are some 140 photographs, 50 scale drawings, 30 colour plates and innumerable citations from contemporary documents, teleprints, orders, lectures, reviews and intelligence reports.To make orientation easy, documents and illustrations are arranged in chapters that follow the historic pass off: Project, devlopment of the Heinkel He 162, manufacturing of the "Volksjaeger", in action within the Luftwaffe and allied war booty are the most important topics. For the first time the production and delivery numbers of the Heinkel He 162 have been broken down. Most of the original documents are not translated, but discussed in the text. A German-English glossary helps to understand the content of those original files.Rounding off the publication is a comprehensive annex giving details of propulsion units, camouflage schemes, armament, the cockpit, plus the various versions of the Heinkel He 162. An index of individals, place names and subjects and a list of sources and literature, both covering several pages, completes this supremely detailed retrospective of this famous German aircraft.About the AuthorThe author, Peter Müller, was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Swiss Army and is now a military historian. For the past quarter of a century, he has researched armament from 1914-1945.

• Personal letters detailing a soldier’s analysis of the war and day-to-day life on the front line• Astonishing contemporary photographs bring the many colourful characters vividly to lifeThough the United States was late to enter the Great War, a number of idealistic young Americans wished to take part from the beginning. One of these was Avery Royce Wolfe, a highly educated scion of a family in America’s burgeoning industrial heartland.Volunteering as an ambulance driver with the French Army in the Verdun sector, Royce sent back a constant stream of highly detailed letters describing the bitter experiences of frontline combat, Verdun being the worst battle the French have ever seen, not excluding comments on strategy, the country he encountered, and the Allies’ prospects for success. Containing expert overviews to set the reader in Royce’s time and place; however, the narrative is most gripping with his own day-to-day perceptions, analytical and emotional in turn. The reader can sympathize with Royce’s dilemma when his original term of service expires and he wonders whether to return home. Then the American army begins to arrive and he decides to continue on. We hear firsthand how the US troops are first kept out of battle, then take casualties no veteran unit would have sustained, because of their fresh-faced audacity. Full of exciting experiences as well as interesting firsthand analyses (such as comparing French and German trenchworks—the latter were far better), Letters from Verdun brings the reader amazingly close to the frontlines of the Great War, almost as if in person.

A further title in this well-established series looks at the history of this USAAF B-25 Mitchell 345 Bomb Group unit, which operated mainly in the Pacific Theatre. The unit was formed in late 1942 and finally entered the Pacific in mid-1943. There, due to the ingenuity of an ex-Philippines Airlines pilot, 'Pappy' Gunn and Jack Fox, a North American aviation technician, standard B-25s were turned into gun-toting strafers by adding additional machine guns to the nose and in special gun packs added to the sides of the forward fuselage. Black and white photos, colour profiles plus a bookmark with FS colour chips are all included. About the SeriesAir Miniatures is a series of books which focuses on the combat history of combat aircraft units. Each volume covers the history of the air unit, its organisation, equipment, camouflage, markings and detailed descriptions of the day-to-day exploits of the unit’s air combat. Includes over 50 photographs, as well as maps, colour profile artwork and free extras for modellers, with decals, photo-etched brass and masking foil.

The first in a new series from Kagero illustrating the combat history of P-40s in the Mediterranean. The Curtiss P-40 was an American single-engine, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground attack aircraft that first flew in 1938. It was used by the air forces of 28 nations, including those of most Allied powers during World War II, and remained in front line service until the end of the war. By November 1944, when production of the P-40 ceased, 13,738 had been built.Content covers their combat use in Syria and the Western Desert, Tunisia and Italy.About the SeriesAir Battles is a series of books focusing on World War II air battles of specific aircraft and units. Each volume contains information on the planes involved, lists of scores, pilot reports and portraits, colour profile artwork and maps. Over 50 photographs feature in each book, with free extras for modellers, such as masking foil and decal sheets.

History’s greatest military operation and the commanders who nearly led it to success . .

Max Immelmann was born in Dresden, the son of a paper board container factory owner. When World War I started, Immelmann was recalled to active service, transferred to the Luftstreitkräfte and was sent for pilot training in November 1914. He was initially stationed in northern France as a reconnaissance aviator. On June 3, 1915 he was shot down by a French pilot but managed to land safely behind German lines. He was decorated with the Iron Cross, Second Class for preserving his aircraft. Later in 1915, he became one of the first German fighter pilots, quickly building an impressive score of air victories. He became known as “The Eagle of Lille” (Der Adler von Lille) due to Lille being one of his favourite scouting areas.Immelmann was the first pilot to be awarded the Pour le Mérite, Germany's highest military honour. The medal became colloquially known as the "Blue Max" in the German Air Service in honor of Immelmann. His medal was presented by Kaiser Wilhelm II in January 1916. Oswald Boelcke received his medal at the same ceremony. Immelmann was credited with 15 victories. His final victory was on 30 March 1916.Immelmann will forever be associated with the Fokker Eindecker, Germany's first fighter aircraft, and the first to be armed with a machine gun synchronised to fire forward, through the propeller arc. Along with Oswald Boelcke and other pilots, Immelmann was one of the main instigators of the Fokker Scourge which inflicted heavy loses upon British and French aircrews during 1915. This new edition has been entirely reoriginated. Not a word has been changed, but the original type and page layout have been reworked, as has been the format in which the book is presented, to give a beautiful new treatment for this classic of aviation literature.

Ira Jones' biography of Britain's top scoring ace of World War I has become the subject of some controversy over the last few years, most notably as it is the source of the claim of 73 "kills" for Mannock, thereby making him the number one scoring Allied Ace of the war. Later research has thrown serious doubt on this claim and indeed Mannock himself only claimed 51 kills. Jones' biography is nevertheless an important account, especially when seen in the context of the time in which it was first written. In particular, the biography really gets into the mind of Mannock, the author having been a flying comrade, and portrays the singular nature of his character and the incredible stresses that these pioneer airfighters were under in the last few months of the war by a man who flew in the thick of it.Originally published in 1934 by Ivor Nicholson and Watson in London, this aviation classic has been reprinted many times, yet each time has been reproduced from the original 1930s version of the book. This new edition has been entirely reoriginated. Not a word has been changed, but the original type and page layout have been reworked, as has been the format in which the book is presented, to give a beautiful new treatment for this classic of aviation literature.About the AuthorIra Jones enlisted in 1913. When the war began, he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps and joined 10 Squadron as an air mechanic. In July 1915 he was sent to France and by January 1916 he was flying combat missions as an observer. He was then posted to 74 Squadron in early 1918, where he developed a close bond with his flight commander, Mick Mannock. In just three months he scored 37 victories flying the S.E.5a.

The Maps of Chickamauga explores this largely misunderstood battle through the use of 120 full-colour maps, graphically illustrating the complex tangle of combat’s ebb and flow that makes the titanic bloodshed of Chickamauga one of the most confusing actions of the American Civil War. Track individual regiments through their engagements at fifteen to twenty-minute intervals or explore each army in motion as brigades and divisions manoeuvre and deploy to face the enemy. The Maps of Chickamauga allows readers to fully grasp the action at any level of interest. The maps lay out the troops and terrain as they were in September of 1863. Opening and closing chapters describe each army’s approach to the battlefield and the retreat and pursuit to Chattanooga in the aftermath of the bloody combat. In between, sections are devoted to the fighting of September 18, 19, and 20, following the battle as it unfolds from a series of limited collisions between isolated columns into the bloody action of the last two days. Situation maps reflect the posture of each army on an hourly basis, while tactical maps reveal the intricacies of regimental and battery movements.The text accompanying each map explains the action in succinct detail, supported by a host of primary sources. Eyewitness accounts vividly underscore the human aspect of the actions detailed in the maps as brigades and regiments collide. Meticulously researched and footnoted by David Powell with cartography by David Freidrichs, The Maps of Chickamauga relies on the participants’ own words to recreate the course of battle.

Nam Sense is the memoir of a combat squad leader in the 101st Airborne Division. Arthur Wiknik was drafted by the army in 1969 at the age of nineteen, promoted to sergeant ‘without ever setting foot in a combat zone’, and sent to Vietnam. He was flown north to Camp Evans, a mixed-unit outpost near Phong Dien, only a few miles from Laos. Wiknik was then thrown straight into the action: he was the first man in his unit to reach the top of Hamburger Hill during one of the last offensives launched by US forces, and later discovered a weapons cache that prevented a sneak attack on his advance fire support base. Between the sporadic episodes of combat he mingled with the locals and defrauded an unwitting US supplier to provide his platoon with a year of good food. This book offers a perfect blend of candour and humour – and it spares nothing and no one in its attempt to convey what really happened during this unpopular war. Nam Sense is not about heroism, mental breakdowns and haunting flashbacks: the GIs Wiknik lived and fought with during his year-long tour were there to do their duty, support their comrades and get home alive. ‘The soldiers I knew’, explains the author, ‘demonstrated courage, principle, kindness, and friendship – all the elements found in other wars Americans have proudly fought in.’ About the AuthorARTHUR WIKNIK was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1968, selected to be trained as an Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) and went to war in Vietnam.

This book is built around two recently discovered war diaries—one by a member of the 23rd Panzer Division which served under Manstein in Russia, and the other by a member of Rommel’s AfrikaKorps. Together, along with detailed timelines and brief overviews, they comprise a fascinating “ground level” look at the German side of World War II. The assignment of keeping the first diary was given to a soldier in the 2nd Battalion, 201st Panzer Regiment by a commanding officers and the author never saw fit to include his own name. This diary covers the period from April 1942 to March 1943, the momentous year when the tide of battle turned in the East. It first details the unit’s combat in the great German victory at Charkov, then the advance to the Caucasus, and finally the brutal winter of 1942–43. The second diary’s author was a soldier named Rolf Krengel. It starts with the beginning of the war and ends shortly after the occupation. Serving primarily in North Africa, Krengel recounts with keen insight and flashes of humour the day-to-day challenges of the AfrikaKorps. During one of the swirling battles in the desert, Krengel found himself sharing a tent with Rommel at a forward outpost. The Field Marshal read parts of the diary with interest and signed it. Evacuated due to illness, Krengel then records service in Berlin beneath the relentless Allied bomber streams and other occurrences on the German homefront.Neither of the diarists was famous, nor of especially high rank. However, these are the brutally honest accounts written at the time by men of the Wehrmacht who participated in two of history’s most crucial campaigns.About the AuthorsThe authors previously collaborated on Mr. Gehlen’s childhood memoir, Jungvolk: The Story of a Boy Defending Hitler’s Third Reich (Casemate, 2008).

On the 6th of June 1944, thousands of men landed on the Normandy beaches to free Europe from the Nazi occupation. Over 2 months, soldiers of all origins were to battle in the Normandy bocage. American and British soldiers of course, but also Canadian, Polish, Belgian and French troops were to challenge those from the German Wehrmacht and SS, together with Russians donning the German uniform. Over 240,000 soldiers were to pay the ultimate sacrifice during these 2 months of intense combat, during which landscapes were devastated and Normandy's towns and villages destroyed, with civilian losses estimated at 45,000.The aim of this book is to offer an insight into the uniforms worn and the equipment used by the soldiers who fought on Norman soil, many of whom are now laid to rest throughout the region's cemeteries. Several collectors have contributed towards enhancing the book's contents, presenting, for the first time, the finest from their collections, painstakingly and patiently recovered across Normandy's battlefields. Each and every one of these precious objects holds its own share of history and many are the last remaining witnesses of this terrible combat.